Thursday, March 24, 2011

Wednesday Night Notes 3/16/11

Isaiah 45:20-22 “Gather together and come,  you fugitives from surrounding nations.
What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save! Consult together, argue your case. Get together and decide what to say.
Who made these things known so long ago? What idol ever told you they would happen?
Was it not I, the Lord? For there is no other God but me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none but me. Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.

Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

TURN – Have you ever arrived at spot in life where you’d have to change direction?
Sometimes we’re faced with sign similar to this one.



Confusing right?
But what if it was just one sign that told us to turn around and go the other way. Maybe the path we were headed down was leading to destruction and the opposite way was towards life.

See the bible tells us that sin separates us from God and that sin leads to death.  So the word TURN is a choice we are given and an action we must complete in to have our sins forgiven.

It’s called Repent  
: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life
: to feel regret or contrition 
: to change one's mind

Check out this scripture….
Luke 13:3  
Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.

Acts  
Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.


When we repent we begin by turning from a life of sin and self.
We realize that our own effort will not be enough to make us acceptable to God therefore self cannot be trusted.
Have you ever tried to get rid of a sin yourself?
Usually we fall back into it, we try to justify it, “maybe just a little sin won’t hurt.”

The thing is we must no longer embrace a sinful way of life but Turn to Jesus alone as your Savior and Lord.

John 14:6    
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

We also realize that we cannot let go of our sin on our own and that we need help.
Jesus came to release us from the grip of sin.
Sometimes we feel overpowered by a sin in our life, so much that we think we can’t shake it. We can’t but Christ can and He did.

Revelations 1:5
and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us

The bottom line is that Jesus and only Jesus is the way to God.


But here is the greatest News of all…

Romans 10:9-10 
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

Confession is an acknowledgement. It involves both the confession of sin and the confession of faith.

1 John 1:9 
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

It’s more than words. “and believe in your heart” That He is Alive!

Those who confess and believe will be saved.
Saved is Paul's description of a person who commits his or her life to Jesus.

No comments: